I quite like writing really short passages to try and get a better feel for a story or a setting. They are never that well written but they do help give me a feel for the setting. They are very brief, sketchy… the best analogy I have is thumbnail sketches in art, they are not the full picture but a way to better get and idea of where you are heading, even if some get binned.

So here are three I have been working on, they do focus on some of the darker aspects of the setting, particularly the resistance, a couple do explore, in a very quick way, the theme of what is terrorism, and how one mans terrorism is another mans freedom fighter or just cause… which is much better explored in other media like “V for Vendetta”.

Anyway, you have been warned…

#0001
The metallic square door slide effortlessly open, its bolts and seals retracting with barely a noise, Alison walked into the compact bridge, his four other bridge crew at their places. Each of their consoles, set at equally around a central station, were full of a constant stream of information, the walls of the bridge illuminated with an augmented view of the space outside. She took her seat in the centre of the four, a multitude of small screens flickered on around his chair, he quickly inspected one of the screens that was in his main field of view which seemed to be full of reports. “Whats our status?”

The young woman in front of her to the right spoke without taking her eyes of her screens. “Sir, we are closing in on the colony, so far we have received no communications from it. Initial communication sweeps show no activity. We are currently running silently.”

The man to her left then spoke. “All weapon systems have been triple checked and configured. All are ready to be made live.”

One of the men behind her then spoke, “Engine and life support are functioning with parameters, no unusual activity or readings.”

“We are within maximum passive scanner range of the colony. Probes are ready when needed. Initial passive scans show the terrain around the colony and confirm the colony position and size.”

“Excellent, our mission still stands, we are to investigate why this colony has gone silent and if appropriate resolve the situation. Launch probes and do a detailed scan of the colony, engage weapons systems, tell the crew to go to red alert, and open up communication systems.”

“Aye sir!” came the uniform response.

“This is Captain Alison Green, loyal solider of the Oligarch Empire, if anyone can hear this please respond.” Silence. “Scans?”

“Negative Captain, the colony seems deserted, there is literally nothing happening, no life signs, no electronic signatures, no power anywhere. No signs of battle, no unusual radiation signatures.”

“How many life signs should there be?”

“976 Human, 10 Gar’oui’a Commanders.”

“Something is not right, the resistance isn’t good enough to take an entire colony without a fire fight. What is going on here? Take us closer, carefully.”

The ship silently slide through space edging towards the small mining colony on the gas giants moon. Alison sat pensive, a deep look of concentration in her eyes, the screens continued spewing data and the large display around here let her see everything around the ship. Soon they were in orbit around the colony.

“Still nothing Sir.”

“Do a detailed scan, is there anything.”

“Processing… first images coming on screen.” the front wall zoomed into the middle of the colony, there was nothing there, just buildings and some vehicles attached to the colony walls. As the scan progressed Alison started planning and zooming around on her own display, then suddenly she noticed something.

“Put this area on main screen!” she shouted, the screen filled with a small section of the edge of sealed colony. “There look, the shadow of that vehicle stops before it should against that crater. Its a massive hologram or someth…”

Before she could finish the sentence warning alarms blared as the screens showed the view to the view the colony which was suddenly filled with an closing human cruiser, beat up and battle scarred. “Quick alert the command, we have hostile, it appears to be the resistan…”

“Sir, communications are down, they’re jamming us!” interrupted the female officer.

“What? How?” But before she could finish the screen distorted and there on the screen was a human male.

“Stand down Captain, you are seriously out gunned. If you value the lives of your crew you will surrender.”

The bridge crew looked at their Captain, a mixed look of fear and anger, Alison sunk into her seat. She then sat forward, “Unacceptable, I will not sacrifice this crew to your barbaric resistence, I will however hand over myself if you agree to let this vessel go safely.

There was a pause, “Agreed. However we will be deleting every piece of data. Land your vessel on the colony and you will be taken inside.” The screen switched off.

“Sir?” came the almost united exclamation.

“Its better me than the whole crew, its ok I’ve been trained to resist their torture and interrogations. I will die before I give anything up. As for the logs, I am afraid that a price we will have to pay, we will find out who is helping them. Its been an honour serving with you all. James, you have the chair.” With that Alison stood up saluted and walked out.

The vessel landed on the colony and after a pause the airlocks opened the soliders on the vessel took aim at the single man waiting on the other end. “As agreed Captain, the rest of your crew can leave.” Alison walked forward into the colony airlock and the seals closed shutting her off from her crew and ship.

“Welcome to colony M2-76 Alison, its been a while. Did you manage to get what we needed?”

“Not all of it, I had hoped to get more, I am guessing there is someone else on board who was Resistance apart from me?”

“Afraid I can’t answer that, come in, there are others you have to meet.”

#0002
Out of the huge wall width window a massive city sprawled out in all directions. Even in the dead of night it seemed as bright as day. A well dressed middle age man stood surveying it all, a small video of an attractive young woman appeared in the window near the mans line of sight. “Yes, Miss Redpath?”

“The prisoner is here sir.” Her voice seemed at unease, as her gaze was fixed at someone to her right.

“Send him in, you better go Miss Redpath, take a break.”

She thanked him and the double doors to the spacious minimalist office slide silently open. Filling the doorway where six large soldiers, in heavy armour, four of them carrying rods with nooses attached to the neck, chest, and arms of a thin, bruised, battered, and slightly bloodied man dressed in a day-glow orange jumpsuit.

“Thank you men, attach him to the chair, and wait outside.” The men looked as if to protest, the man just looked sternly at them, and the soldiers then rough-handed the man into the chair which automatically, and firmly secured his limbs and neck. The chair sat alone in the middle of the office, well away from any other item. The soldiers left the two men in the room. “Mr Jameson, you have been quite the trouble maker.”

“I would hate to think I have inconvenienced you, or your masters, in any way Senator Roberts.” sneered Jameson.

Roberts turned round, tapped some glowing icons on the desk, which was a huge glass plane with an expensive looking leather chair behind it, and the doors closed and the window turned into a plan white wall. “Now, Mr Jameson, we must be quick, we can talk freely for now.”

Jameson looked at Roberts disdainfully and then seemed to be concentrating, moments later the lights on the table flickered and then went dark, the only light seemed to be concentrated in the middle of the room around Jameson. “Now we can talk freely.”

“I was under the impression they had deactivated or removed all interfacing technology?”

“I guess they are not as good as they think they are. So, you wanted to talk, then talk?”

“Its not good, thirty resistance members were captured yesterday, obviously they resisted, most of them are now either in hospital or died during questioning. The Oligarch are cracking down more and more, we are loosing more and more battles. We need to rethink, we need to regroup if we stand any chance of getting rid of the Oligrach and truly freeing all of humanity.”

“Some of humanity are free, that gives us hope, gives us a hope that is worth fighting for.”

“Yet the cost is dear.”

“Nothing worthwhile ever comes cheap.”

“Hmph, you should put that on a t-shirt.” Roberts sat down in his chair, his façade dropped he looked like a man weighed down and at breaking point. “I have tried to do what I can, but I think they are beginning to suspect me, so you know that I can’t let you leave without at least some scars, it would draw too many questions.” Jameson nodded. “I am hoping that this weekend I can make a meeting, show my face, let others know I am still fighting in my own small way, to let the other know there are still allies in the government.”

“If you are sure you can do it without drawing too much attention?”

“My driver is loyal, and I have set up a couple of diversions for other reasons so I can sneak about as needed.”

“In that case you can meet a group underneath junction 23a east, 2100. You know the codes. They will take you to the meeting, if you are not followed.”

“Thank you.”

“Whatever, lets just get this over with.”

“Yes, lets… thank you Mr Jameson,” as Roberts pushed the button on his desk, jolts of white hot pain surged through Jameson. Jameson’s body writhed in agony as the pain intensified. “Yes, you have been very useful, I will make sure they know you betrayed them all when they are caught.”

Roberts pushed the button again causing an increase in the pain “Trait…” he managed to get out before he slumped in the chair, barely keeping himself awake.

“Traitor? Hmph. Worthless resistance scum, you are the traitor, I am a merely a humble servant of the mighty Oligarch.”

“You are betraying your own kind, for what? Some power? A better office?”. Stumbled Jameson, breathless, his pain receptors still burning.

“I am not the traitor here, you are. You fail to see the truth, you ignore the gifts the Oligarch bestow upon humanity we could have had peace, we could have ascended with them into the stars, but no, some backward short sighted Neanderthals couldn’t accept progress from an alien.” Roberts pressed the button again.

After the waves of pain stopped Jameson pressed another button, the room lightened and returned to normal. “We are done, I got what I needed, I see no need to continue, I take little pleasure in this form of torture. Men, you can come in and take him to termination…” No reply came from the coms, “Men? … MEN!?!”

“Give me some credit Senator, do you really think that I would be that careless.” Jameson began to stand up out of the chair his bounds undone, wiping blood from his mouth, “The only reason I was captured was so I could came here to deliver this message in person. Traitors will pay…” Jameson moved closer as Roberts became to shout and scream for help that would not come. His desk flickering back to life and playing every recorded torture session, every time he betrayed humanity, the walls flickered and began the playback as well… the last images he would see, the last things he would hear.

#0003
Peter still couldn’t hear anything, he hadn’t got the timing right, he was far too close. He could taste a mixture of blood, soot, and dirt in his mouth. He slowly picked himself up from the ground, still dazed he looked around, all around him were others, most of them in worse condition that he was. He started to leave, wiping blood from his nose and ears, it was then he heard the sirens blaring. They got the timing wrong, a patrol was too close.

His chest was in agony, as he moved he could tell something was seriously wrong with his back, as he tried to run he noticed there was also something wrong with one of his legs, it was covered in blood and dirt and looked messed up, some of the blood was his, although at least some came from the woman lying six feet behind him.. He couldn’t let himself get involved, he had to suppress any feelings, any compassion, any desire to help, he had to leave before they got here.

As he limped to the corner he clumsy put his bloodied hand on a wall, he couldn’t believe it, he could have got away, he could have made it without leaving anything, now they had his hand print and he didn’t have time to clean it up. Now he couldn’t go home, he couldn’t return to the cell, he was alone and would be hunted with a determined fervour. Once captured he would tortured, and interrogated, and eventually either willingly or through some other way he knew he would eventually give in and give up something.

The ambulances arrived moments after he turned the corner, the soldiers were not far behind them. He had to move. He stumbled his way towards an alleyway he knew would take him along back streets and out of the way. As he crossed the street his luck, what little he had, finally left as a soldier saw him and opened fire. Peter fell into the alleyway to avoid the shots, one tore through his already shredded back, the force threw him into the gloom of the alleyway, this was it, he had no escape, his life was ending, the soldiers were closing in, he only had one more option, he could not be captured, he couldn’t allow himself to betray the cause.

The soldiers carefully piled into the alleyway, and closed in on Peter, he looked at them, as they shouted at him to put his hands in the air and surrender under the authority of the Oligarch Empire. Peter laughed, spat at the their feet, and he looked deep into their eyes and pulled the pin on a grenade and the searing pain stopped as everything became light and for the briefest of moments Peter knew pain unlike anything he had experienced and then…

EDIT: this now an updated version after talking with Andrew about some ideas…

“Humanity has stretched itself into the darkness of space, further than many could have dreamt even a hundred years ago. Earth is no longer alone as humanities home, our first major colony out side our home system, <insert name here>, is now home to <insert decent number> humans, while new colonies are being established throughout space. This is a golden age of humanity, technology and and a unity of purpose drive us to even greater things, truly we are the makers of our own destiny.”

Over the following years, humanity began to create more colonies across space, but they still thought themselves alone. Then the Oligarch appeared at Earth, their Empire ranging across thousands of systems and hundreds of races. They claimed to come in peace, to share their wisdom and knowledge with humanity, to share the truths they had found. Truths which humanity would accept, or face the consequences. It became clear to the leaders of earth they faced annihilation or subjugation. They choose to bend the knee and become part of the Oligarch’s empire some out of a desire for more power and influence, others in a hope that it would in the end save humanity either for itself or from the Oligarch.

Humanity now became another part of the Oligarchy, there were two option convert and serve the Empire, or refuse and die. Riots and infighting waged across earth, <insert name here>, and the other colonies as the Oligarch made their control known. Some humans embraced the new way and truths and thus gained positions of power and technological gifts, others fled underground resisting the new Empire.

Many years later humanity is mainly either subdued or willingly converts, pockets of resistance have managed to exist and still mount strikes and attacks. The resistance on <insert name here> gain enough support that they openly rebel and manage to remove the Oligarch from the colony. As word of the rebellion spreads the Oligarch become incensed, no one has ever managed to remove them, but they knew if they reacted violently the <Council of alien races> would finally find enough common ground to act against the Oligarch Empire, some human sympathisers had already managed to get humanity recognised by the council as a new space faring race and worthy of a council seat, a seat currently occupied by an Oligarch convert.

Some of the smaller colonies then rebelled and then the resistance on Earth began its revolt, the Oligarch decided enough was enough and they launched a devastating attack on the earth, wiping out humanities home. The Council became angered just enough to decry the Oligarch’s actions and state that they were banned from reclaiming lost, or currently unclaimed, human colonies. However they did not go far enough to utterly remove the Oligarch from all human colonies.

Humanity is now without a homeworld, their home for millions of years now lies in ruins, and even  the best estimates are that it will not be inhabitable for generations. The loss of earth has also made their seat in the Council tenuous at best. Humanity is still fighting and some of the alien races within the <Council> secretly support humanity in their struggle but the <Council> is slow moving so does not official support humanity. The human resistance inspired other resistances in other subjugated races but they are being quickly, and brutally, put down, the Oligarch would not be so complacent again.

Humanity is in mourning for its home, some wallow in despair and loss, others a driven forward to rebuild humanity. The resistance is also far from over, humanity is not yet free, some fight the Oligarch for freedom, some for revenge, some for profit and technology.

In case you have no idea what I have blithering on about, click HERE for a good bit of info on role playing.